COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES

1. COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES Presentation to Chair Council Thursday 12th September 2019

2. TWO SCHOOLS, SEVEN DEPARTMENTS School of Physical Sciences (SPS) • Department of Mathematics • Department of Chemistry • Department of Geology & Petroleum Studies • Department of Physics School of Biosciences (SBS) • Department of Zoology, Entomology and Fisheries Sciences • Department of Plant Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology • Department of Biochemistry and Sports Science

4. OUR PROGRAMMESSchool of Physical Sciences • BSc. (major and minor programme in Physical Sciences) • BSc. in Industrial Chemistry • BSc. Petroleum Geosciences and Production • MSc. in Physics • MSc. in Chemistry • MSc. in Geology • MSc. in Mathematics • MSc. in Mathematical Modelling • PhD in Mathematics • PhD in Physics • PhD in Chemistry • PhD in Geology

5. The following degree programmes are planned in SPS for introduction in the medium term: • BSc. in Chemical Engineering • MSc. in Petroleum Engineering • BSc. in Industrial and Applied Mathematics • BSc. in Mathematical Statistics • BSc. in Nuclear Science • BSc & MSc in Forensic Science & Medicine

6. School of Biosciences • BSc. (Major and Minor Programme in Biological Sciences) • BSc. in Fisheries and Aquaculture • BSc. in Ethnobotany • BSc. in Conservation Biology • BSc. in Biotechnology • BSc. in Sports Science • MSc. Botany • MSc. in Biochemistry • MSc. in Zoology • MSc in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences • PhD in Botany • PhD in Biochemistry • PhD in Zoology

7. The following degree programmes are planned in SBS for introduction in the medium term: • BSc. in Molecular Biology • BSc. in Microbiology • MSc. in Conservation Biology • MSc. in Ethnobotany • MSc. in Parasitology • MSc. in Entomology

8. STAFFING Table 1: Academic Staff numbers as at September 2019 Summary 157 academic staff 6 of them are Professors 16 are Associate Professors 27 are Senior Lecturers 55 are Lecturers 50 Assistant Lecturers 3 Curators

9. Staff by Qualification/Gender • 107 staff have PhDs, 80 of these are male and 27 are female. • Staff who have MSc are 50, 34 are male and 16 are female. By gender therefore, there 114 male academic staff and 43 female academic staff. • Total PhD = 107 (Male 80; Female 27) • Total MSc. = 50 (Male 34; Female 16) The following table shows gender distribution of teaching staff by department

11. Technical and Support Staff

12. Other Staff Under the Principal’s Office .

13. Students Table 4: Registered Undergraduate Students in AY2018/2019 Table 5:Registered Postgraduate Students in AY2018/2019 Note: Updated student numbers can only be confirmed after semester1 of an academic year after registration hence we are sharing numbers from last academic year

14. Service to other Colleges • CONAS offers teaching to other colleges • Mathematics teaches Engineering mathematics to all CEDAT – 2000 students • Mathematics teaches all education students mathematics – 1000 • Mathematics teaches COBAMS Statitics students many courses – 1000 • Physics teaches education students all physics – 800 • Chemistry teaches education students – 8000 • Biochemistry teaches students of COVAB

15. PROBLEMS FACED BY THE COLLEGE • It is well-known that the Facilities of the college were built in the 1960s with equipment and infrastructure of that time. • Today, there are high advancements in technology and science is highly advanced with absolute precision technology. • Generally, the college laboratory infrastructure, equipment and apparatus are obsolete, not to the standard of a university of this century • The College appreciates the recent refurbishment of facilities in the Departments of Chemistry & Plant Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology with support from the AfDB-HEST project.

16. Examples of good laboratory infrastructure – PETRONAS University of Technology Malaysia

17. Examples

18. Examples

19. Examples

20. Problems Geology • The preceding examples are the best practice training laboratories for oil and gas. The department of Geology teaches Petroleum studies but none of these basic equipment have been seen even by our best teacher. • The Department has very limited office and teaching space and heavily relies on other units • Not all venues are equipped with teaching infrastructure (e.g. ICT tools); • Due to the increased numbers of students at the Department there is need for large lecture rooms to accommodate for the growing student population.

21. Problems • Petroleum Studies were introduced into the Dept. by the government without increasing the establishment. This has resulted into large teaching loads which are not remunerated. • Most of the posts on the establishment of technical and support staff are unfilled. • Geology is a field subject with field vehicles of 1992 donated by the Japanese Govt; need to engage with government to obtain more recent field vehicles - we are sitting on a time bomb by transporting students during field classes using DMC vehicles.

22. Department needs laboratories for Petroleum Studies – when compared to other International Standards Makerere does not have anything at all. • Most equipment at the Department is obsolete and need replacement. A case in point is the teaching microscopes for mainly undergraduates have become obsolete greatly impacting on the practical's done at the Department (yest this is the basic equipment they can show to students!!)

23. Physics Department Office Space and Teaching Infrastructure: • This is a big challenge to the Department. Most members of staff are sharing offices and this does not create a good environment for consultations by students that is very necessary at University level. • The teaching infrastructure is also not good whereby the only Lecture Theatre we have has dilapidated seats and the inside is too dirty. We request some facelifts of it.

24. Teaching Materials and Equipment: • Some experiments have long been left undone because of the obsolete and break down of some equipment. • Innovative new experiments have been designed by members of staff but funding is still lacking to have equipment for them be purchased so as to have them running

25. Sanitation Facilities: • We are the Department that has left their toilets open to all University students. CoNAS and CEDAT students are the main users of the departmental toilets. This has put a lot of pressure on the drainage system. We would like an entire overhaul of the drainage system in the department to serve our students and staff better. • The other challenge has been cleaning the toilets. We have had an on and off sanitary cleaner and the stench from the toilets affects the whole department. Several requests have not been responded to.

26. Research, Publications and Community Engagements: • Members of staff have been able to continue doing research and publishing but under tough conditions. We would like the University to put an incentive on publications since this also increase the visibility of the University.

27. Mathematics Department: Teaching Staff, Infrastructure and Space • The department needs to have well-equipped Computational Science labs, well refurbished lecture rooms and increased staff. The building ceiling is all torn and lecture rooms need modernization. Research, Publications and Community Engagements • The department has only 13 offices which affects the consultations with students. The anticipated increase of staff to cater for the mandate of the department across the University required for more office space.

28. Biochemistry Department & Sports Science • Generally lack of equipment and apparatus • Refurbishment of the labs • Sports Science has no departmental space and a new structure that should house Sports Science with fully equipped teaching labs and gymnasia should be availed to the department • Un-conducive work environment for staff (lack of office space and furniture), lab space and equipment for research and teaching

29. Issue of Technicians staff • CONAS is largely practical science college. Teaching and research entirely relies on laboratory practice all in chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics, Botany, Zoology, Geology • These Departments MUST have good number of Technicians – a techinician in Physics can not be transferred to Biochemistry and vice versa • THE MAIN PROBLEM- Technicians have been retiring, resigning, or passing-on and not replaced – university wide problem. We have reached a point where this has now become critical. • Technicians do prepare all practicals for teaching and research and this is being taken for granted. We have put quality of science at stake- all departments have no technicians!!! The University should respond to this urgently.